For about 10 weeks in late 2022 and early 2023, 17-year-old Zak (also spelled Zach) Hess attended two different high schools in Lincoln, Nebraska, his mother dutifully meeting with school counselors to help him transition. However, authorities now say that "boy" was really a man in his mid-20s named Zachary Scheich, his "mother" was a 22-year-old woman, and Scheich used his cover to meet and then sexually assault underage girls, leading to a hefty prison sentence for Scheich last week, per WFLA.
- The ruse: Scheich first enrolled as a transfer student at Lincoln Northwest High School in the fall of 2022, then popped up at Lincoln Southeast High School—where he'd graduated in 2015—in the spring, reports the Washington Post. He was 26 at the time, but at just 5 feet 4 inches tall and 120 pounds, he was able to blend in with the actual high schoolers, per the Kansas City Star. A district official for Lincoln Public Schools said at a 2023 presser that Scheich handed over a fake birth certificate, academic transcript, and immunization records at the time.